Fifth-graders experience life in colonies whiile still on campus

Tim Langdon, with his wife, Renee, provides Colonial American-themed field trips for students, and the students do more than square dance.

By Brandon SneedStarNews Correspondent

A man wearing funny round glasses and a rifleman's hat played the fiddle and fifth-graders square danced. And that's how the 105 fifth-grade students at Parsley Elementary School spent some of their school day last Tuesday.The fiddler was Tim Langdon. He owns Camp Flintlock with his wife, Renee. The camp is in Four Oaks, but the Langdons take it to students, too. They provide Colonial American-themed field trips for students, and the students do more than square dance.“We specialize in hands-on activities,” Langdon said. “There are a lot of field trips you can take but all you get to do is look at stuff. At ours there are lots of activities.”Students wrote with quills dipped in ink, made beeswax candles, walked on stilts, donned colonial children's clothing and played tug of war and all sorts of other games.“It was awesome,” said student Asa VanNorman while playing with a ball-and-cup. “I love history and I love learning new things.”As she tried her hand at the ring toss, fellow student Beverly Perdue – not the governor, though she gets that a lot – said, “It's really good. I like making the candlesticks. It's fun walking around and dipping them.”“It's been really fun,” said Luke Frankeny, whose favorite game was nine-pin.Students were greeted by Langdon and his crew playing the drums and the fife – a flute-like instrument – as they arrived that morning. The on-campus field trip was a first for Parsley. Teachers wanted to try it last year but didn't have the funds. This year, the school's Parent Teacher Association sponsored the event. “They were very generous to donate the funding,” said Suzanne Sload, a Parsley public relations representative and art teacher.Fifth-grade teacher Pam Cannon said, “We just finished our study of the Revolutionary War, and this is a good culminating activity for the students.”Langdon trains parent volunteers to help man the dozen or so stations. Twelve Parsley parents volunteered for this event.Langdon himself, though, really provided all the atmosphere the students needed to go back in time. He wore colonial-era glasses with 18th-century frames complete with bifocals, plus the rifleman's hat and Colonial-style knee britches.“I've just always liked working with children,” Langdon said. He has three of his own, ages 10, 5 and 3. “And I've always liked teaching history. When I was growing up I wanted to learn how to do stuff from back then, and now these kids get to learn. I like this era – it's when our country was first started.”Cannon said they'd like to have Camp Flintlock back again. The credit went to her and her fellow teachers as much as anyone else.“The teachers all did a great job,” said parent volunteer Steve Lambros.